On August 25th we got a phone call from Covenant Care Services in Macon, GA.  informing us about a little boy who needed a home.  Yesterday, we flew home from Georgia with Micah Alexander Baucham (baby number six)!  The Lord was truly good to us in a number of ways.  For the sake of time and space, let me share just three.

First, God used this adoption to heal some recent wounds and restore our faith in the adoption process.  A few months ago we learned about a set of twins that were in desperate need of a home.  We were not even thinking about another adoption (Judah just turned one on August 29th and this was in June when the babies were already a few months old), but we were not about to say no to these babies.  Unfortunately, what followed was nothing short of a nightmare.  Our only solace in the entire process was the fact that we had been through the adoption process before with Homes of St. Mark, so we knew this was not typical.  In fact, our Homes of St. Mark caseworker was angrier than we were at the unprofessional manner in which we were treated (for those unfamiliar with the adoption process, sometimes agencies work together when one has the child/children and the other has potential adoptive parents). In the end, we simply held on to the fact that the twins eventually found a home (it would have been nice to discover that via a phone call from the agency... but I digress), and we had to trust that God used us in the process regardless of how bad it hurt.  After all, this all about finding homes for children in need.  We’ll line up for abuse again and again if it helps babies find homes.  We just hope our experience was a complete fluke and this agency doesn’t treat all of it’s adoptive parents the way it treated us (if we thought it was more than an isolated incident, I’d list the name of the agency and warn people about them)

After the unprofessional, disrespectful, and frankly unkind manner in which we were treated earlier this year, Covenant Care was like a breath of fresh air.  I preached at their banquet back in March, so I was very familiar with the agency.  In fact, they had contacted us two years ago about another possible adoption when we were in the process of adopting Asher.  From the initial contact to the placement ceremony, Covenant Care was everything an adoptive parent could ask for.  They were professional, attentive, thorough, responsive, and above all they conducted themselves like true followers of Christ. 

Second, God showed us his mercy during a chaotic travel situation.  Anyone watching the news lately knows that Atlanta is not the most convenient place to fly in and out of right now.  The rain and high water caused a number of delays that turned our trip into quite an adventure.  We were on a late flight that we switched for an earlier flight, then the earlier flight was cancelled so they put us on an earlier flight that should have been gone but wasn’t because it had been delayed.  Eventually, the earlier flight (which was now the later flight) made it to Atlanta.  However, our bags were on another flight (that was earlier than our first flight, but later than our cancelled flight) so we had to hang out at the Atlanta airport waiting for our bag.  Once our bag came we were on our way!  We drove from Atlanta to Macon in driving rain arriving no worse-for-ware a little after midnight.

While all of this was excruciating for my dear bride, it was still better than it could have been.  Thank God we live in Houston where flights to Atlanta are plentiful.  Also, thank God for frequent flyer miles, frequent renter miles, and frequent hotel stay miles that made our journey a lot less expensive than it would otherwise have been.  Also, thank God for the ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of a Child) process went through in record time (both Georgia and Texas approved us in a total of one day!).  All-in-all, God was indeed merciful, and we rejoice in his providence.

Finally, God restored our passion for a vision we believe he gave us.  We have often said that we are trusting God to give us ten children.  I can’t tell you where that number came from.  I can, however, tell you that we rejoice in the passion the Lord has given us for children (those who’ve read our story know we did not start out that way).  We also rejoice in the blessing of having an older daughter by our side who (until the Lord brings her a husband) is committed to serving her family in any way she can.  As a result, Bridget has a helper that makes her the envy of every mother of small boys, and Jasmine has a stimulating, challenging and rewarding ministry, and a training ground that will have her better prepared for motherhood than most new brides (read Jasmine’s blog here).  Praise God for an adult daughter with a passion and vision for the home!

We also rejoice the gift that is our church.  GFBC is committed to the ministry of adoption.  This is evidenced not only by the number of adoptive families in our church, but by the fact that our church offers a grant (up to $5,000.00) to member families who adopt (we are also looking into the possibility of interest-free loans for members pursuing expensive international adoptions).  Were it not for the help of such a grant, we would have been in no position to consider this adoption on such short notice (four weeks from initial contact to placement).  However, by God’s grace, we were blessed to have help in our time of need so that we could help Micah in his time of need.  Now if we could just get someone to help pay for those diapers, bottles, clothes and formula ;-)

In short, the Lord has been good to the Baucham family, and we are indeed grateful.  Thank you to all of you who pray for us regularly.  Thank you to all of you who prayed for this adoption.  Thank you to all of you believe in the ministry of adoption and play your part whether large or small in this life-changing, gospel-affirming act.  And thank you to my new friends at Covenant Care.  I know you’ve already heard from at least one person I’ve sent your way, and I hope you hear from dozens more. 

For more information about Covenant Care, contact them at:

Covenant Care Services
3950 Ridge Avenue
Macon, Georgia 31210-5002

Toll Free Crisis Line: 1-800-226-5683 (LOVE)
Phone: (478) 475-4990
Fax: (478) 475-0367

VB